Okay, this is definitely a side note to what will be the bulk of this post, but I've been watching some boob-tube this evening (pun intended) and is anyone else as horrified as I am by the Victoria's Secret models in lingerie proclaiming kitten-like, "I love my body." while they squirm around and make kissy-faces. I mean, is that supposed to be ironic? Or am I supposed to think that it's the BRA that makes THOSE women love their body? It's not because, oh I don't know...they're VICTORIA'S SECRET MODELS?!?! Sorry...I just...seriously.
Ahem.
So, on to the point. I've been teaching. Mainly I've been teaching privately, as I'm giving out free introductory sessions in LA to friends and family so I can get my teach on, and a small class at a condo in Culver City...and I've been noticing this interesting trend amongst a lot of the folks that I've been teaching:
First of all, most of my students don't have a ton of experience in group classes and many of them express the same trepidation when they talk about yoga:
"I don't want to go to class because I don't want to be the only one who can't do anything."
And some of these students are, sure, injured or feel like they're not in tip-top shape, but some of them, MOST of them, are young and strong and healthy and have no reason to feel...inferior. In any way. Certainly not in a YOGA class. One of my students, who is a runner and in great shape and has a lot of natural grace asked me after our session, "am I the worst student you've ever had?"
The answer was of course NO, not by a long shot, but it was also NO and I would NEVER think of students in that way! That is not the deal with yoga! Yoga is about the opposite of that. It is about the eradication of that "oh no I'm bad at this" way of measuring progress.
But do you know whhhhhhhhy these students feel this way? It's not in their imagination. They didn't just make it up. It's because they've BEEN to classes somewhere and they've been made to feel, for whatever reason, that they were totally out of their league.
And maybe in some cases it's because they went to a class that wasn't the right level for them...but maybe it's just because they went to a class labeled "basics" that was far from it. Or maybe it's because they ended up at a clique-y studio where the teacher played favorites and made them feel out of the loop. Or maybe they tried to use a block to help them in class (this happened to a friend of mine) and the teacher came over and TOOK IT AWAY and said to her, "blocks are for old people and injured people."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Hold on. I'm collecting myself so that I don't go track down that teacher and kick him in his stupid head.)
Anyhow, my point is, I feel like there's this whole population of people who are interested in yoga but have been scared off in one way or another, and I just...where are the classes for them? Where are the classes for people who aren't "yogis", who don't feel like they have a natural affinity, who need some truly basic instruction in an environment free from judgment? Where do you go if you want to learn but you don't want to feel like "new kid" is tattoed on your forehead?!
I remember several years ago I wanted to take a dance class, and I had some ballerina friends who were like, "oh go here...take this beginner's ballet class at this great studio, you'll love it." And so I did. I showed up, and one of my ballerina friends introduced me to the teacher and told her I was new and she looked at me and said, "Great. What kind of dancer are you?"
And I said, "Oh. Um...I'm not a dancer."
And she said, "You're--you've never taken ballet?"
And I nodded and said, "In fact, I've never taken dance. Period." And, she seemed a little nervous about this, which made me REALLY nervous, and then when class began I immediately understood why. It's because a "beginning" ballet class at a dance studio in downtown New York is not for people who haven't taken dance since they were in preschool. It's for dancers. It's for modern dancers who want to try ballet, or for ballet dancers who have taken some time off and want a refresher course. It was, for sure, not for me.
I tried. I tried to leap around and stand on my toes, but really I just had to give in to being totally humiliated and feeling like a fat graceless slob compared to my classmates. Which I did, for a few weeks, but then I quit. Because I didn't want to feel that way. And I think that's how people feel when they go to a yoga class...they might hang in for a few weeks, but if they feel like they're miles behind everyone else, there's no way they're going to stick it out.
It's both frustrating for me to see this big GAP in the way yoga as a popular practice is taught in the west, but it's also sort of exciting for me, as a teacher. To be able to work one-on-one with people and begin to build a foundation with them so that maybe they CAN go to a class and feel like they're swimming in the same pool as everyone else. It's cool. It's gratifying.
And this is totally a stretch, but maybe my Victoria's Secret model rant at the beginning of this post wasn't actually so off topic...because, not everybody wants a bra that's made for a lingerie model...most of us can't even begin to relate to something marketed for a squirming vixen. Some of us want a bra made for adorable girls with bellies. Some of us want to watch the Dove Real Beauty commercials over and over again.
Which means, I guess, that as a yoga teacher I'm not interested in being Victoria's Secret. I'm very happy being Dove. Or...um...Hanes Her Way?
